Witching Time (The Wild Hunt #14) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,83
the fairground area. That’s the clearest patch of land. I suggest we lay a circle of kindling. That way, Kipa’s men can drive them inside of it, and we can light a fire around them to keep them contained.”
“That makes sense. They won’t be able to make a run for it that way.” We spread out, gathering up spare twigs and branches. Kipa jogged over to one of the sheds and brought back a massive armful of kindling and we arranged the circle, making certain it was large enough to contain a number of wights.
“Should we pour lighter fluid on it?” Viktor asked.
Herne frowned, then nodded. “I suppose we might as well. Viktor, can you find some?”
“Wait—there’s no need. I can easily torch the debris,” I said. “A simple fire spell will do the trick.”
I set out my skull on a nearby table from one of the empty vendors’ booths, then added the candle and lit it. I set out the War Water, the Blessed Water, then unpacked my wand.
The wand was made of yew, adorned with carnelian, citrine, sapphire, and amber. At the top, an inch-wide amethyst sphere was wired into a bronze setting. Copper wire encircled the wand from directly below the amethyst down to the bottom, where the wire was covered by a strip of bear fur.
My mother had gotten the wand from Baba Yaga, but it was actually made by Straha, the Fire Witch of the Black Forest. A powerful wand with a dubious history, it carried the powers of fire and lightning, and could only be used once before needing to be charged again. I had leveled a building with it, and I could probably decimate all the wights on the land with one good bolt.
“When they’re trapped, let me go first with my wand. It should save us a lot of trouble,” I said. “So, how do we set off the crystals?”
Herne held up a large quartz spike that was riddled with fractures and prisms. “I sent the men out in specific directions. This crystal is enchanted to be the Mother. Morgana taught me the incantation to activate it. When I incant the spell, this crystal will set off all the others and they’ll begin to send out their subsonic charge. That will drive the wights inward.”
“What if any decide to head off the land?” Ember asked.
“They won’t—the crystals on the outskirts will be reverberating the deepest, so the wights will attempt to avoid those by racing inward. The reverberations will lessen the farther toward the center that the wights travel, but the sound will still be strong enough to drive them toward us. My mother labeled the buckets as to which go on the outskirts and which are to be placed between the borders of the land and where we’re standing. So now, we just wait.” He glanced around, taking a deep breath. “This is a beautiful farm. I’m sorry it’s had such a sullied history.”
“I am too,” I murmured. “Rain and Marigold deserve better. Hopefully, after this the only challenges they’ll face will be the weather.”
Ember glanced around. “I always dreamed of having a little farm. Maybe not this big, but a couple of acres. But I don’t think I’d make a good farmer’s wife.”
Herne laughed. “Love, I’m a hunter, not a farmer. You’ll never wear gingham in my kitchen—unless you want to, of course. After this, I do think that Rain and Marigold should set up an altar to Demeter, or maybe Cerridwen. The mother goddesses are very maternal about their followers and watch over them closely.”
“Cerridwen certainly does,” I said. “I’m pledged to her because of her Cauldron of Rebirth, but she’s definitely an agricultural goddess. I’ll mention the thought to Rain, once this is over. But another question—how will we know if we’ve captured the right wight?”
“Doofus,” Kipa said, grinning at me. “Marigold will snap out of her fugue.”
“Oh, that’s right,” I said, laughing. I marched behind one of the booths and brought out a chair to sit on. Ember followed suit, sitting beside me.
“I hear your father’s visiting,” she said. “How’s that going?”
“I have a lot to tell you and Angel, but we should wait till later. Oh, but get this,” I said. “I have a half-brother I never knew about.”
“That’s huge. How did you find out?”
“My father told me. But I can’t meet him, not right now. He’s ten years old.”
Ember blinked. “That’s a little younger than DJ—Angel’s little brother. Is he…what’s his name?”